6 Questions We Hear the Most About Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising Campaigns

The world of PPC advertising can feel complex and overwhelming. With so many options to choose from – plus constant changes to digital platforms and algorithms – it can be difficult to understand the strategy behind a successful ad campaign. 

In this blog post, we’ll answer six of the most common questions we hear about PPC advertising campaigns while sharing tips about how to track your performance.

1. How long will it take to set up?  

A paid ad campaign requires proper planning and research to be successful and worth the investment. How long that takes will vary depending on your location, competition, the platform you’re using, your practice goals and the complexity of your campaign. 

At AudiologyDesign, we’ve developed a customized yet streamlined process for creating and launching an ad campaign that aligns with your practice goals and targeted patient audience. After a brief onboarding, our in-house experts get to work building your campaign’s landing page. Once the landing page is approved, we finalize the ad account and go live with the campaign. Setup times always vary depending on the client, but we aim for two to four weeks from start to finish, given there are no delays. 

2. How will I know if my ad is performing well?

There are several ways to gauge ad performance. The cost-per-click (CPC) metric, as the name implies, tells you how much each click on your ad costs, which provides insights into how well you’re using your ad budget. A lower CPC typically indicates you’re getting more clicks for your money, while a higher CPC may mean you need to rethink your targeting or bidding strategy.

Conversions are another key metric to watch. At AudiologyDesign, we offer an in-house, customized reporting dashboard that provides helpful context around leads driven by paid ads. 

Of the total number of leads generated by ads, our clients know which are qualified, which are potential hearing aid sales and how many convert to appointments. You can see an example of our lead scoring breakdown below.

In addition to paid ads, our reporting portal tracks data from all lead sources we manage for the hearing practices we work with, such as website, SEO and social media.

3. What is the difference between impressions and clicks?

Impressions refer to the number of times your ad appears to someone searching for targeted keywords on Google. If your ad pops up in a user’s search results, it counts as an impression whether or not they actually click on it. The total number of impressions informs how visible your ad is to your selected target audience.

Clicks refer to the number of times someone actually clicks on your ad. A click usually means someone visited your website or landing page to learn more about your services or to complete a conversion action, such as booking an appointment. 

In addition to impressions and clicks, click-through rate (CTR) is another useful metric because it tells us the percentage of impressions that lead to clicks. This is helpful for understanding which keyword and ad combinations are most relevant to a target audience.

All of these metrics are helpful in understanding the bigger picture of your ad’s performance. While clicks represent actual engagement and interest in your ad, impressions provide insight into the visibility of your ad and the CTR indicates the effectiveness of your content and targeting strategy. 

4. Why is it important to test my ads?

Ad testing is an opportunity to gather feedback, data and insights that can improve your strategy. The more you learn about what works and what doesn’t for your practice and patient audience, the better you can optimize your ad campaigns and make the most of your budget.

For example, if we notice that your ad content is underperforming, we will make adjustments or recreate it based on test results. Frequent testing and monitoring helps us avoid wasting your budget on ineffective ads and improves the overall performance of your campaigns.

While many agencies test their client’s ads, most will send over a spreadsheet of data without an explanation about what it all means. At AudiologyDesign, our in-house portal includes a monthly insights tab that provides a snapshot of your ad performance, the optimizations our experts have performed for your ads, as well as our recommendations and next steps.

5. Why do I see my competitor’s ads everywhere but never see mine? 

Paid ads are complex, and there are many elements that impact visibility. One explanation might be that you don’t fall within the target audience. Another factor could be your ad bid, which is the limit set for controlling the cost of individual ad clicks. If your competitors bid higher than you, their ads may be more likely to appear in front of potential customers. Additionally, if the daily budget limit for your ad is reached, ads will stop appearing in search results until the following day when the budget resets.

The time you check search results also matters. At AudiologyDesign, we like to schedule ads within a hearing practice’s office hours. This is because potential new patients are more likely to book an appointment if they talk to a live person. So if you search outside of your ads scheduled hours, you won’t be able to see it.

Finally, depending on how many competitors are active in your area, Google may limit the number of times ads are shown and rotate the ad slots between advertisers. While we can’t control when and how Google does this, keeping tabs on impression share metrics is one way we ensure our client’s ads are getting included in the rotation. 

6.  How long until I see results?

As with all marketing tactics, patience and consistency are key! Your timeframe for results will vary depending on a wide range of factors, including your audience, location, competition and budget.

As a rule of thumb, it’s best to run your campaign for at least three months to gather enough data to make informed decisions. Even if your ad starts driving results right away, the longer you run your campaign, the more data you’ll have to analyze and optimize your campaign performance – helping your dollars go further in the long run. 

If you’re curious about how paid advertising can enhance your marketing strategy, now is a great time to give AudiologyDesign a try. Sign up for a paid advertising campaign before March 31, and we’ll waive the $500 start-up fees.

To learn more about this offer, you can book a free consultation with one of our experts today!